The logic of being illogical in strategic marketing planning

This article challenges the validity and usefulness of a conventional model of the sequence of stages in strategic marketing planning. Quite simply the conventional model ignores the organisational and human realities facing the planner. This paper proposes an “illogical” but iterative model of strategic marketing planning which is driven by the managerial understanding of the environment and knowledge of what tactical imperatives exist and constrain implementation. The advantages of explicitly recognising this “illogical” aspect of the planning process lie in: coping better with information demands made by executives in planning; allowing for psychological planning constraints and the obstacles created by the real nature of the manager's job; and in gaining the implementation of strategic marketing plans, with all that this implies for organisational and cultural change. The argument leads to an agenda of issues to be considered by the executive responsible for managing the strategic marketing planning process.     

The marketing and strategic planning interface

This article examines the potential contribution and implementational problems of developing marketing planning as a means to increase the marketing orientation of a company. It draws on the experience gained from a two year involvement in the design and implementation of a planning system for a large manufacturer, and reviews some of the literature on marketing and strategic planning. The focus is on the problems of managing the interface between strategic and marketing management, and the important role played by marketing information, the Chief Marketing Executive and the planning function in achieving effective and integrated strategic marketing planning.     

Service Orientation and Small Business Marketing

ABSTRACT

In an environment of ever increasing competition, small businesses are beginning to recognize that adopting a strong service orientation in their marketing efforts not only gives them a differential advantage, but is also fast becoming a prerequisite for their survival. This study introduces a classification scheme which identifies firms by their degrees of involvement in service orientation. This typology was validated in a nationwide survey of retail nurseries. The findings supported the hypotheses that a strong service orientation does have a dramatic impact on a business's marketing decisions. It is hoped that recognition of these distinctions will offer strategic insights for small business practitioners in making marketing and promotion decisions.     

Environmental context and marketing planning processes

The traditional model of marketing planning assumes that the process by which organizations take planning decisions is constant with respect to context. Organizational environment, internal context, performance and distinctive competency affect marketing planning only as information inputs for the planning process, not as influences on the choice of process. However, rapid change in environments, in competitive patterns and in market responses all demand action from organizations. Intuitively, we expect that rapid environmental change will require a faster planning process, and that increasing environmental complexity requires more careful deliberation. The marketing planning model does not accommodate such intuition. This paper outlines the case for rethinking marketing planning models, and develops a conceptual framework through which the impact of environmental context on marketing planning processes can be effectively examined.     

A Review and Evaluation of 2002 State Visitors' Travel Packets: A Fifty State Study

ABSTRACT

Official state visitors' travel packets were collected and analyzed in terms of strategic contributions to marketing communications goals. It was recognized that some states capitalized on the opportunity to obtain useful information and/or to make a favorable first impression during the potential tourist's inquiry phone call, although most did not. The majority of the distributed state visitors' packets were lackluster and collectively homogeneous. Slogans were found to be an underutilized tactic. The sponsorship of back covers was addressed. Noting the importance of the visitors' travel packet in terms of accomplishing marketing communications objectives, a call for accountability from the states was stressed.     

Interactive effects of marketing strategy formulation and implementation upon firm performance

Abstract

This study employed an integrative approach to investigate the influence of external business environment, strategy formulation, viability of marketing strategy, and strategy implementation upon firm performance. The findings show that while technological change and market competition negatively influence the credibility of the strategy, market attractiveness has a positive influence upon the viability of strategy employed. Moreover, market competition has a positive influence upon the involvement of marketing managers in terms of strategy making and that the presence of an innovative culture is strongly required in executing a strategic marketing plan. In addition, the study shows that the involvement of marketing managers in strategy making, which is strongly supported by an innovative culture, generates their commitment to the strategy, which positively influences strategy viability.     

Scanning the internal environment: Impossible precept or neglected art?

A wave of recent empirical studies draws our attention to the view that successful firms display a heightened alertness and responsiveness to environmental changes (e.g. Hooley and Lynch 1985). Also to be found is a plethora of normative expositions of the organisational systems, techniques and procedures that can be used to generate the data and analyses that provide the basis for knowledge of the firm's market environment (Brownlie 1987).

Students of marketing may be forgiven for congratulating themselves that the merit of one of the basic maxims of the subject is at last achieving widespread recognition. The author would just counsel a moment of caution. In this paper he argues that the popular thrust towards environmental awareness may bring about an overriding concern with the environmental appraisal, to the detriment of its indispensable obverse, the internal appraisal.

The writer reminds us that survival and prosperity are also determined by the match the firm achieves between its distinctive competences and market opportunities. In doing so he calls for a reawakening of interest in what is in danger of becoming the Cinderella function of strategic marketing, i.e. the internal appraisal.

The paper discusses the execution of the internal appraisal and its role in the overall strategic management of the firm. It introduces a conceptual framework which integrates the tasks of defining, identifying and evaluating the firm's strengths and weaknesses. It also looks at functional areas of the firm and gives examples of the strengths and weaknesses to be found in each.     

Marketing research and training in Europe: A view of the next ten years

Between 1993 and 1994, important research on the future of marketing in Europe was undertaken. Financed by the usual procedure of syndicated research, its aim was to provide guidelines for strategic corporate thinking over the next 10 years.

Following a summary of the research methodology, an indication is given as to the kinds of information and trends which are to be found in the results document. Our objective is then to extend this study in terms of requirements in relation to marketing research and training over the next 10 years.     

Developing a Framework for Understanding a Tourism Service Setting

ABSTRACT

This study aims to extend current typologies in physical environments as applied to service marketing. The physical setting in which service delivery is undertaken creates expectations of the level of service. Thus, the design of the service environment should be carefully undertaken to ensure consistency with service expectations. This is a report/study which demonstrates that many organizations fail to adequately capture the servicescape in tourism settings as evidenced by low accuracy in classification by the participants.     

Advances in strategic marketing and the advancement of the marketing discipline: the promise of theory

ABSTRACT

Hunt (2018, Advancing marketing strategy in the marketing discipline and beyond: From promise, to neglect, to prominence, to fragment, (to promise?). Journal of Marketing Management, 34, 16–51. doi:10.1080/0267257X.2017.1326973) provides a synthesis and critical review of over 100 years of marketing literature organised into four eras. In his prognosis of the outlook for Era V, Hunt notes that there are reasons to be optimistic about the prospects for both the marketing discipline, broadly, and the field of strategic marketing, specifically. However, he also draws attention to the concerns voiced by a number of marketing scholars regarding the current state of the field and the future outlook for the field. Hunt argues that the prospects for the marketing discipline and the field of strategic marketing are closely intertwined, and that the health of the latter contributes significantly to that of the former. Against this backdrop, this commentary focuses on the promise of theory for advances in strategic marketing and the advancement of the marketing discipline.     

The contribution of marketing to competitive success: A literature review

This paper reviews the literature relating to the practice of marketing and its relation to corporate success, examining pertinent concepts and issues. The marketing factors thought to be determinants of success are categorised as attitudinal, strategic and tactical factors, and these provide the framework against which enhanced corporate performance through marketing effort is analysed. The final section of the paper presents a summary of observations on the literature reviewed.     

A Perspective on Marketing Planning and Its Essentiality for the Entrepreneurial Restaurateur

ABSTRACT

The objective of this paper is to demonstrate the essentiality of a marketing plan for a small restaurant and offer a framework for its development. Though much has been written on the subject of strategic marketing and marketing planning, little is directed specifically to the entrepreneur operating an independent restaurant establishment. The purpose of this paper is to help bridge this gap. Sample marketing plan excerpts are presented and discussed at the conclusion of the paper demonstrating how the process can be implemented.     

A study in international marketing: The development of a consumer database marketing capability

This paper examines the reasons why Seagram Europe & Africa (SE&A) decided to develop their database marketing capability in Europe. The paper describes the environmental changes, external and internal, that led SE&A to re‐evaluate their marketing communications strategy and examine sponsorship and direct marketing opportunities for Europe. The paper focuses on the major issues SE&A addressed when weighing up the strategic role of database marketing. Finally, the key considerations in the development and implementation of an European‐wide database marketing discipline for the division are discussed.     

Marketing and the British chief executive

British chief executives increasingly recognise the need to make their companies more marketing orientated. But boards of directors are still dominated by a financial outlook and most lack a professional approach to strategy and market innovation. Chief executives need to supplement their generally inadequate base with education and development programmes on strategic marketing and to add non‐executive directors with substantial expertise in marketing.     

Meta‐marketing: Unifying organisational focus to achieve marketplace goals and objectives

Marketing and sales have not received the same emphasis from western leadership that they have in Japan. In the American model, one group markets, another sells, another designs and manufactures, and another sets organisational goals and objectives. Each area becomes separate and isolated without a common focus. Well‐designed meta‐marketing strategies directed by senior management can facilitate rapid and productive responses to changing environments.

To excel in a global economy, the field of marketing must take a new position, rethinking its fundamental relationship to all aspects of the organisation and its external environment. The perception of marketing must move beyond its present paradigm. To improve profits and sales by x percent each year is limiting. A business should expand in relation to potential, not last year's profits. A marketing focus must be designed that will increase market share, growth, short‐ and long‐term profits, and employment. Leadership can improve productivity by directing all employees to reflect a common corporate marketing and sales focus.     

A Typology of Marketing Strategies for Export

Abstract

This study has two goals. The first goal is to develop and present a framework for analyzing and characterizing export marketing strategies. The second goal is to examine the proposed framework. The framework is based on three key dimensions: innovation, adaptation and involvement. In the first part of the paper a typological approach of strategic groups is applied to export marketing. In the second part an exploratory research is reported. One hundred one export ventures were clustered according to the three dimensions. We then test the validity of these dimensions by examining whether they generate prototypes that are significantly different in the adaptation, innovation and involvement. We identify and characterize four strategic prototypes based on the proposed framework. The correlation between the different prototypes and marketing variables is examined and compared with a set of hypotheses. We also explored the relations between the firm's goals, competencies and industry to the strategic prototypes, and the performance achievements of each prototype. We conclude by discussing the theoretical and managerial implication of the framework and the strategic prototypes.     

Advancing marketing strategy in the marketing discipline and beyond: from promise,to neglect,to prominence,to fragment (to promise?)

ABSTRACT

The purpose of this article is to advance the field of strategic marketing within the marketing discipline, which will in turn, the author argues, contribute to enhancing the discipline’s impact beyond the narrow confines of its own journals. Towards this goal, certain aspects of the history of marketing strategy need to be reviewed. However, though this article draws extensively on historical sources, it is not a history of marketing strategy. Rather, this article uses historical materials and arguments concerning the four ‘Eras’ of marketing thought to advance five major claims: the area of strategic marketing (1) had significant promise when the marketing academic discipline was founded in Era I (1900–1920), (2) was neglected in Era II (1920–1950), (3) rose to prominence in Era III (1950–1980), (4) has become a ‘fragment’ in Era IV (1980–present) and (5) has prospects that are both promising and problematic in the future ‘Era V’. Finally, a tentative prognosis for strategic marketing and the marketing discipline is suggested.     

Parallel Brands

Abstract

The competitive environment of national and private brands may be substantively changing because of a confluence of events in the marketing and legal environments for branding. A 1994 trademark case has paved the way for a new private branding opportunity: parallel branding. A parallel brand closely imitates the trade dress and form of a national brand, while avoiding a trade dress infringement suit by simply coupling the imitative trade dress with an invitation to compare the two products. This article examines the current legal environment that surrounds trade dress and analyzes different managerial strategies for members of the distribution system in light of parallel branding.